In addition to an automatic BcS bid and Rose Bowl pact that runs through the 2013 season already in place, the Big Ten now officially has six additional bowl contracts in place, the league announced today.
The conference reached agreements on extensions with three bowls -- Capital One, Outback and Insight -- and signed new deals with three others -- Gator, Texas and Dallas Football Classic.
All of the deals run concurrent with the current BcS contract, through the 2013 season.
The complete press release appears below.
(My apologies for the length.)
(“You wish,” she said.)
Park Ridge, Ill. - The Big Ten Conference unveiled its new postseason lineup for the 2010-13 college football seasons, with six Big Ten bowl games set to be featured annually on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, including five contests on Jan. 1. The conference office announced four-year bowl extensions with the Capital One, Outback and Insight and new four-year bowl agreements with the Konica Minolta Gator, Texas and Dallas Football Classic. The Big Ten is already in the midst of an eight-year extension with the Rose Bowl through the 2013 season. This new Big Ten bowl lineup will run concurrently with the latest Bowl Championship Series contract.
The Big Ten’s 2010-13 bowl lineup will begin in late December with the Texas Bowl, followed by six more postseason contests played over an estimated 26-hour period on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. The Insight Bowl will be played at night on Dec. 31, followed by five more conference bowl games over a roughly nine-hour period on Jan. 1, including the Dallas Football Classic, Capital One Bowl, Outback Bowl, Gator Bowl and Rose Bowl Game presented by Citi.
“We are excited to announce our bowl lineup for the 2010-13 seasons, with seven outstanding destinations in Arizona, California, Florida and Texas, which will allow us to showcase our programs in six different New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day games,” said Big Ten Commissioner James E. Delany. “Big Ten student-athletes, coaches and fans can now look forward to rewarding trips to Orlando, Tampa, Jacksonville, Tempe, Houston and Dallas, along with the conference’s traditional trip to Pasadena for the Rose Bowl. With the number of Big Ten alumni in these states, this bowl lineup is a natural fit and should provide some compelling matchups on the field. We look forward to continuing our bowl relationships with the Rose, Capital One, Outback and Insight, and are pleased to add bowl agreements with the Konica Minolta Gator, Texas and Dallas Football Classic in 2010.”
The Capital One Bowl first entered into an agreement with the Big Ten for the 1992 campaign and the conference has sent a team to Orlando, Fla., in each of the last 17 seasons, marking the conference’s second-longest bowl agreement behind the Rose Bowl. The Big Ten has won four of the last five New Year’s Day matchups, which are held at Florida Citrus Bowl Stadium.
The Outback Bowl’s association with the Big Ten began in 1993 and will extend through the 2013 campaign with games held at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fla. The Big Ten has been victorious in two of the last three New Year’s Day games, including wins by Iowa in 2009 and Penn State in 2007.
After becoming the Big Ten’s first Arizona bowl game tie-in in 2006, the Insight Bowl will remain a part of the conference’s postseason lineup. Representatives from the Big Ten and Big 12 will continue to meet in the annual game held at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Ariz., through the 2013 season. Previously known as the Copper Bowl from its inception in 1989 through 1996, Big Ten teams are 2-3 in this event with victories by Indiana in 1991 and Wisconsin in 1996.
The Big Ten will return to the Konica Minolta Gator Bowl for the first time in nearly two decades, giving the conference a third Florida postseason game to conclude the 2010 through 2013 seasons. Matching teams from the Big Ten and SEC, the Gator Bowl will be held on New Year’s Day at Jacksonville Municipal Stadium in Jacksonville, Fla. The Big Ten has appeared in five Gator Bowls, beginning with a narrow loss by Ohio State after the 1978 campaign and capped by a Michigan triumph over Mississippi following the 1990 season.
The Big Ten will continue to play postseason football in the state of Texas with a pair of games beginning after the 2010 campaign. The Big Ten will make its first appearance in the Texas Bowl in December of 2010 at Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas. One of the country’s newest postseason games, the first Texas Bowl took place in 2006 and will match a Big Ten and Big 12 program beginning in 2010. A Big Ten school has played a bowl contest in the state of Texas in every season since 1995.
The Big Ten’s second postseason game in Texas will be the Dallas Football Classic, which will debut following the 2010 campaign with teams from the Big Ten and Conference USA. The Dallas Football Classic will mark the conference’s fifth New Year’s Day game and will be played in Cotton Bowl Stadium in Dallas, Texas.